Justice Sonia Sotomayor criticized the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit as "significantly out of step" with other circuits for the way in which it handles prisoners' requests to file successive habeas challenges to their sentences or convictions.

In a statement accompanying the Supreme Court's denial of review in the case St. Hubert v. United States, Sotomayor said Monday the Eleventh Circuit's procedures present a "troubling tableau" and questioned whether they are "consistent with due process."

The order marked the second time in the span of one week that the justices declined to hear a dispute challenging the Eleventh Circuit's treatment of prisoners' applications that basically seek permission from the circuit court to move forward with their cases. The other petition, Tomlin v. Patterson, challenging the circuit court's handling of "certificates of appeals," was denied review on June 1.